It was Evansville's Bicentennial Tree planted by the city in 1976 on Locust Street, across from the Old National Events Plaza.

American Eagle Tree Service "jumped the gun" by cutting down the tree prior to getting approval from Building Authority officials and RiverTown Construction, said Dave Rector, director of the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Building Authority.

"The tree service acted without our knowledge or direction and that certainly is not the way it should have occurred," Rector emphasized.

However, there was talk around cutting the tree to help make a way for the Locust Street project. No final decision or course of action had been finalized when the tree was chopped down, Rector stated.

The $175,000 project — funded by the Building Authority — is set to widen Locust Street between southeast ninth street and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

"It's going to be nice when we close the street for festivals," Rector said. "We're going to pick up another 18 to 20 parking spaces for Civic Center, Old National Events Plaza and Ford Center patrons. The flow is going to be smoother."

The project went out to bid in September. An alternative bid recommended waiting until early April to start on the six-week project, which is set to be completed by June if all goes well.

Rector planned on speaking to the tree board soon to discuss the tree.

"It was probably going to come down because of the expansion," he said. "The project's procedures weren't able to be followed as intended because it was taken down before we got to the tree board."

Now that the tree is gone, Rector plans on discussing the possibility of planting a new tree in the same area after the project is completed.

"It's a small consolation, but at least it wasn't a tree in the memory of someone. We do have some of those on the property here too," he said. "We'll plant another tree that is appropriate for that area, and we'll have a re-dedication with that plaque."